Responding to the specific technology usage needs of students, faculty and staff, the Training Center will plan, design, deliver and evaluate training that meets both immediate and long-term needs. Information will be gathered using Help Desk reports, interviews, technology self-assessments, and focus groups. Additionally, the Training Center will proactively respond to San Juan College’s use of emerging and learning technologies.

C. Identify the single AQIP Category which the Action Project will most affect or impact:

Primary Category:
Valuing People

D. Describe briefly your institution's reasons for taking on this Action Project
now -- why the project and its goals are high among your current priorities:

At the present time, a consolidation of services and initiatives reflecting the online expansion makes it possible to implement a strategic and streamlined technology training program under the management of Online Services. Combined with the Training Center are Course Management, Online Learning Support Management, and Web Services.

E. List the organizational areas - -institutional departments, programs, divisions, or units -- most affected by or involved in this Action Project:

F. Name and describe briefly the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve:

Most importantly, the project will dramatically transform the way that students, faculty and staff receive technology training. Rather than be general knowledge based, the Training Center will focus upon providing training that is designed to a) target needed skills; and b) train staff in solution based uses of institutionally deployed technologies.

G. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion):

The timeframe reflects consideration for changes in application technology usage (desktop applications), data gathered and analyzed from individual incidents reported to the Help Desk (user problems), and the training support needed for implementation of ERP systems (WebCT, Datatel, DAISY).

H. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing:

Satisfaction surveys are an essential method for monitoring the success of a Training Center action project. Performance measurements include responses from trainees. For instructional related training, data will answer the following questions:
1. Did the training save time?
2. Did the training help make them better instructors?
3. Did the training help with student learning?

I. Describe the overall "outcome" measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals:

As a need for technology training is recognized, measurements will be developed at that time. A planning template has been developed for training. Within this template, there is a section that asks, “Describe the overall ‘outcome’ measures or indicators to indicate if training has been a success or failure in achieving its objective.”

J. Other information (e.g., publicity, sponsor or champion, etc.):

Tim Warren, VP of Technology Services and Dr. Sandra Tracy, Dean, School of Extended Learning are the sponsors of the project. Lynn Lane, Technology Trainer, Online Services
lanel@sanjuancollege.edu, 505.566.3304 is also project leader and contact person.

K. Project Leader and contact person:

Contact Name:

David Penrose, Manager, Online Services

Email:

penrosed@sanjuancollege.e

Phone:

505-566-3350 Ext.

Annual Update: 2007-09-02

A.
Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status
of this Action Project.

Accomplishments include:
1. Hiring a technology trainer (SJC faculty member with extensive experience and credentials).
2. Technology Training
•40 “formal” short sessions were conducted with 367 participants (duplicated) and 674 hours of participation.
•One-on-one coaching was provided to an estimated 80 staff. Since March 2007, over 50 hours of 1-on-1 help have been provided to 39 staff. Topics varied including:
oHelp with Access databases and skills development
oStoryboarding PowerPoint presentations
oOutlook skill development
oFormatting Fall & Summer schedules for importation into Quark
oSetting up Excel grade books
oUsing Excel database lists for tracking purposes
oWebCT help
•Special projects were completed due to training requests including the following:
oDental grade books in Excel
oAltering existing Access databases to address new needs
Credit Classes - Two credit classes were set up for professional development last spring: COSC116 (Excel) and ITCT150 (Cisco semester 1). Four staff from Office of Technology Services participated in Cisco. One of the Cisco participants passed the Intro Cisco Certified Network Associate. Eight instructors representing three different schools enrolled in the Excel class.
Employee Development Gateway - Collaboration across multiple departments took place this spring to develop a web page called “Employee Development Gateway”. This page lists all available training on one page. (https://www.sanjuancollege.edu/employeedevelopment). The idea is to provide one online location to view available training.
WebCT Boot Camps - Eighteen faculty participated in two summer WebCT boot camps. Each camp was held four days - three hours in the morning and two hours virtually later in the day.
College Success Class - In the Fall and Spring semesters, four college success classes were trained on:
•Student email
•Student portal
•Updating their student information using Daisy (Datatel)
•Registering for classes using Daisy
•Using search engines for research
•Network storage devices
Technology Forums - Technology forums were organized the first Tuesday of each month during the academic year. With the exception of the last forum where there were more than 50 people, attendance to these was marginal at about 12 per forum. The need to develop, reformat and provide future forums will be assessed due to the lack of participation.
Studio Time - During March, every Friday a walk-in Studio Time sessions were scheduled for any San Juan College employee. The environment was intentionally relaxed for more informal learning. The idea was to provide a place to complete work and ask computer-related questions and to provide a get-away to accomplish work tasks without being interrupted. Special software was installed in the technology training lab so departments did not have to purchase rarely used but helpful software.
The Action Project is retired.

Review (09-23-07):

San Juan kicked off this project in July of 2006. Since that time they have had a very busy year identifying training needs, planning how to implement training, implementing the training and determining the effectiveness of the project.
Since implementation of the project San Juan has hired a technology trainer and provided 674 training hours to 367 (duplicated) participants. A variety of training methods and training delivery were used in providing the training. While it does appear that this project was enthusiastically pursued no process was mention of evaluating the effectiveness of value of the training to the participant.

B. Describe how the institution involved
people in work on this Action Project.

Skills Survey - In September, three schools completed a paper-based technology survey. The skills were based on national standards for teachers. Handouts were used because these meetings were not held in computer labs. The compilation of these surveys has yet to be completed. In the future, an online survey will be used and suggest meeting in a computer lab so a high level of completion is achieved.
Training Request Survey - In November, a survey was sent out with previous training classes to all employees. At the bottom of this survey was an optional line to suggest training topics and best dates.
Support Staff Development Committee - Support staff has a professional development committee where they share with the Technology Trainer specific technology skills training needs. This committee has taken the initiative to schedule and advertise the trainings.

Review (09-23-07):

Question “B” asks how the institution involved employees in this action project. The response to this question does not provide a clear response. There is no clear definition of how it was determined that the employees lacked training, what training was needed, and how individual training needs were defined.
Much of the training mentioned in “A” refers to technology training, training on the student information system and Microsoft office product. However “B” refers to implementing a skills survey or a paper-based technology survey, based on national standards for teachers, how this would apply to the use of software such as Datatel, Daisy and other programs is not clear.
Classified or Support Staff seem to have the most organized method of determining what training is need for this employee group. Their professional development committee gathers information which is shared with the technology trainer to determine training needs. This model may be replicated effectively across all employee groups.

C. Describe your planned next steps for
this Action Project.

Individual Technology Plans (Fall 2007) - The technology trainer will job shadow up to 15 staff and faculty to observe current use of technology and suggest some helpful technology applications that would be beneficial for them. Applicants will apply to participate in this project. Customizable assessment software will be used to assess application skills deemed helpful based on observations during the job-shadow phase. A yearlong individual training plan will then be written based on their goals.
Other next steps include an online newsletter, a multi-media week (create a playground where staff can experiment with technology), Technology Boot Camp (a weeklong camp for support staff to improve Microsoft office skills), Executive Technology training series (to teacher upper management to model continuous learning), training lab remodel, and online survey (to determine effectiveness of trainings).

Review (09-23-07):

Several ambitious projects are defined within this section. The question asked is to identify the next steps for this action project. While many ideas are presented no identifiable steps or processes are defined to achieve them, no clear outcome is identified, and no method of measuring effectiveness other than an online survey. Identifying a strategic process of identifying training needs within the institution will make the process efficient and effective.
Having a users group for Datatel is critical as members keep each other informed of needs for training and changes in the SIS. This group could include a cross departmental membership that works together to identify training needs. It may also be useful to identify an academic technology group who would also provide input on the needs of students and faculty in using technology in the classroom.

D. Describe any "effective practice(s)"
that resulted from your work on this Action Project.

Staff is becoming aware that training can be requested. One-on-one training has been an effective new practice for the participant but limits the time the trainer has with others’needs.

Review (09-23-07):

In order to broaden the work that the trainer does it may be useful to identify “super users” of technology and software applications. These people are the acknowledged experts who can assist in training and may be willing to be the “go to” person for that specific application.
More specifically defined outcomes, based upon a users group, may help in defining the direction of the training.

E. What challenges, if any, are you still
facing in regards to this Action Project?

Communications - The goal this year was to provide solution-based training. A challenge is coordinating planning and other events (ie: facilities planning presentations) with technology training so sessions can be offered to assist staff developing presentations or proposals.
Another challenge is marketing the benefits of technology training to employees. When advertising a training session, clear expectations on how an application can be utilized needs to be stated. Somehow people need help to identify what they don’t know. If people do not realize what they don’t know then they will not seek out training. Training opportunities need to be explained more effectively. Better communication with management or workgroups is needed in order to:
a.identify staff who need training and expected outcomes
b.identify staff who could be “written up” J in the Tech Update for effective uses of technology
c.sharing visions of training that would be valuable to your group
d.updates on events where work/training sessions can be set up
e.include professional development in employees’ yearly goals
Time - Staff is busy with many special projects like summerand fall scheduling, facilities presentations, and budget forecasting. Because of these and other projects, employees fell behind in their regular duties and training time was pushed aside. Also, some managers were reluctant to release their administrative assistants because there would be no phone coverage. Another challenge is allowing time for the new technology skill “habit” to take effect. Employees become impatient when they do not become immediately proficient.

Review (09-23-07):

This seems to be a problem that is seen in many colleges, so San Juan is not alone in this issue. Another problem is that if the employee does not have frequent opportunities to apply what he/she learns then they tend to lose the new found skill.
One alternative may also be to tie the use of technology into the job description and different levels within that particular "job family" requires an increased level of the use of technology (Datatel) and advanced desktop publishing and use of MS Office.

F. If you would like to discuss the possibility
of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress on this action
project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and
when?

Suggestions on how to assist staff and faculty to become more proficient in their application of technology is greatly appreciated. The ultimate goal is to positively affect student outcomes through the proficient use of technology in all facets of the college.

Review (09-23-07):

Audit and/or inventory all software applications that are currently being used by the college. This will allow the college to identify those who should be using that particular software and if the use can bet continued and who needs training on the applications. Tie the use of software applications to learner outcomes in the discpline area in which it is used.
Identify "super users" on certain applications who can be the "go to" person for questions regarding that application.
Establish a help desk if you don't have on already.
Establish users group with a cross section of personnel using the application. Especially for users of Datatel, this will help in developing a "systems" view on how a change in one area impacts another user ... An example of this is when Registration and Records drops a student and this changes billing which is a business office function.